Adol regards Alithea with a cool look. "We show these people we can handle their problems by proving we can solve them. You seem to believe the guards are allied with the undead and their advisor, which I doubt they are volountarily. Or at the very least, I wish not to believe it yet. At the gates, they seemed genuinely terrified of their undead companion. That doesn't speak of any love between them. And for the record, it was you who provoked the undead into attacking there, not I. I suggested leaving it be to investigate further first. You wished to taunt it after it gave you a final warning. Do not blame what happened there sorely on me. "
"Also, we know that this process was going on well before we got here. Ulliaza told us that these children were led into the bank only to come out different. Surely at least some of the guards are aware of this. And since we found all or most of the clerics of Abadar dead, it should be extremely simple to ask around when they were last seen outside, which would be some days before we first got here. Adding to how he openly demanded the sacrifices, this advisor is very likely a murderer even before taking anything else we found there into account. If you seriously believe our credibility is still an issue, I hereby offer to tell them under a casting of Abadar's truthtelling everything that happened. Perhaps Maika can arrange for a caster of that to happen, if she visits that plane."
After this discussion, he joins Ulliaza at the front. When he speaks again, any hints of previous anger are replaced with genuine earnesty. "Hear me, brave guardsmen, and know that I, Adol Cristin, hereby swear to only speak the truth of these matters to the best of my current ability. I believe I know what has happened here, of how this Eldran has been turning your village's children into undead, only to trap you all here while he continued doing so. I saw how both the villagers and other gaurds suffered under his practices. We are now trying to help you deal with him and the Dragon afterwards. I know you may believe that since Eldran is an advisor to the mayor, whether or not he has forced himself into that position, that you somehow owe him your allegiance. Or perhaps you are simply afraid of him. I can understand that very well. His powers are clearly beyond that of a simple necromancer."
He sighs. "There is no easy way to tell you this, so I will speak the simple truth. As members of the town guard, you should know what happened. We received notice that Eldran was in the proces of sacrificing more children and rushed to their aid in the church. Unfortunately, these five were all those still alive. Even then, he has broken their minds with powerful magic, as you can probably see. We also found all of the Abadaran clergy dead inside the church, as you could probably already guess - they must have been completely missing for at least a few days. My best guess is that they were killed by Eldran before he started building his group of undead child soldiers there."
"I recognize that this is probably terrifying to hear, and that this should probably be kept from the villagers for now, but there is also very good news. We managed to subdue him and his monstrous guards easily, even if he did barely manage to escape. For all the cruelty he has committed, he has shown that he is a spineless coward at heart - running the moment someone appears to challenge him. He is on the run, and I fully intend to hunt him down, so that this undead can abuse none of you any more, and to avenge the deaths and losses he has caused to your families. For these villagers, we also intend to deliver the healing that will restore them and for anyone else who might still fall victim to him. However, to do so, we need to talk to the mayor, or anyone else who can give us any more information on Eldran, the dragon or anything else about the town that can aid us in your defense."
He pauses, then locks gazes with both of them. "I understand you might feel as if you're endangering yourself by helping us, but the opposite is true. Based on his behavior, Eldran is a coward, and I doubt he would risk seeking you out for speaking to us. However, if we leave him be, he could be back to prey upon the town. To this I say, not if we find him first! And the responsibility to protect the villagers such as these five falls upon us all," he places his hands on one of their shoulders each as he says it. "It is our duty as proud soldiers. The villagers are depending on us. The children are depending on us. Eldran does not have your interests at heart. Protecting you from this dragon was probably never more than a ruse to get you to give him sacrifices. I, however, as a soldier and humble servant of Estivas, ask for nothing and simply see it as my duty to help you. I will be damned before I stray from that path. Now please , tell us where the mayor is, or anything that can help us. Help us protect you. I am doing the very best I can, but I need to know where we should continue the search. "
The guardsmen look somewhat confused as Adol speaks, as he offers a lot of new information all at once: Sacrifices? Undead? Minds broken with powerful magic? Keeping the information from the villagers? Hunt down the count's advisor? It was really a lot, all at once. Slowly, both guardsmen sheathe their swords. One brushes Adol's hand off of his shoulder. They look at each other.
One says, "Alright, you've gotta give us those people. We'll take care of them."
The other says, "If you're looking for the count... He spends most of his time over at the Blind Eye." The guard looks shiftily back and forth. "I think he's hiding."
The first guard eyes Adol's spectral wings and the dark elf with him and Maika's mechanical arms and everything else and he says, "Listen, I gotta say, I got no idea what you're talking about. What undead? I hope you don't think that we're involved in whatever it is that you think is going on here."
"What I... think is going on here?" Adol repeats, visibly confused. "The mayor called out that additional sacrifices were needed for Eldran only this morning, in a very public speech, so I've been told. Four of my companions were present there themselves, as were many villagers. This should be common knowledge? And are you saying you were also unaware of the undead guard with the scythe at the gate preventing anyone from leaving the town? If so, I have to admit this confuses me. If not, then I am sorry to inform you that the unnaturally strong and strange form of the girl there was indeed what she became after being turned into an undead. You only need to take one look inside the bank of Abadar to see that Eldran followed up on his intentions. Too many children were sacrificed there and consequently turned into those. I don't blame you for this, but Eldran himself seems to be one of the most vile men I have ever seen. Regardless, thank you for this information. That is a valuable lead."
The guardsman shakes his head fervently. "No, you're wrong," he says. "They're not undead. Undead are all... rotten. And they can't speak! They just go buhhhh braaaiiinnss."
"The count's advisor gave them the strength to protect us! And we armed them with farm implements, because that's all we had! Our teenage children don't know how to use a sword!"
Adol slowly shakes his head. "Thank you for telling me this. I had presumed some knowledge of what you were dealing with would have spread through the remaining clergy, but I see now I was wrong. I... am saddened to have to tell you that this isn't the case for all undead. They come in many different variants. Among the more intelligent ones are vampires and liches. The bloodless, which these children became after their souls and bodies were sacrificed to house evil spirits, are also among those. That is probably hard to believe, but it is the truth. In your defense, If we hadn't caught Eldran doing this in the middle of his aboittoir and I hadn't extensively studied and encountered many types of undead during my travels, I might not have known either. Initially, at least."
"I can recite the names and traits of quite a few types of undead." Maika added. "There should be some local books that help to explain them, too - they're enough of a pest in some areas that it's always worth teaching people how to recognize the traits."
Rirsa strides off to the way into the Day's End and finds the innkeeper.
Excuse me; but would you happen to have seven rooms available? I'm looking for enough rooms for my companions and I. We'd be staying indefinitely- as far as I can tell. She asks.
Adol blinks at Rirsa's sudden departure. "Was it something I said?" he asks his allies. "Hm... I hope she'll be back. Should we go to this 'Blind Eye' and try finding the mayor in the meantime?"
"On that matter, can you give us the directions there, sers? We are fairly new to this town," he adds to the soldiers.
Rirsa and Carrie head off to the inn to check if there are rooms. When they enter, they find it's full to bursting of people, busy with merriment, and smelling strongly of drink. A matronly woman approaches Rirsa as the pair enter and asks if she needs anything. She is taken aback by the request for seven rooms, and she leans into the inn and shouts, "Hey, Georgina, we got seven empty beds?" Someone from a balcony above shouts back, "No, ma'am! We only got two left!"
She smiles ingratiatingly at Rirsa. "I'm sorry, Miss," she says. "What with curfew, everyone visitin' and everyone homeless comes here. Now, you can stay if you want to. No one's allowed to be outside, after all. But you and your friends are gonna have to have bedrolls or a corner, we're runnin' out of bedding. We have hot stew, lots of dry goods and plenty of strong ale, though!"
Meanwhile, the guards inch around Adol as he speaks to his compatriots. "Blind Eye's over that way. You can head over there and talk to Serano 'soon as you've given custody of these poor people over to us." One of them calls back towards the manor, and a third guard comes out. The second guard instructs the third guard - "Find O'Neale. Get us six more guys," at which instructions the third guard runs off.
I thank you for your hospitality; I'll have to run it by them - but I'm sure they won't mind. Rirsa reassures the Matron as she holds out her hand in greeting and smiles. I'm Rirsa Loldan; Nice to meet you!
The innkeeper shakes Rirsa's hand with pleasure. "Doriana Irini, nice to meet you. If you're staying, please take a seat! Can I bring you anything to eat or drink?"
As the guards reach the villagers, Adol calls out to them. "One moment. Perhaps it is a flaw of mine, but I cannot help but feel partially responsible for their fate. The two of you seem decent folk, but do you trust this O'Neale and all the men he summons to treat them with honor and dignity - especially the young women? Essentially, they are all helpless. I do not want to risk anything untoward happening to them."
Adol looks around at everyone to see if they have an opinion on this.
The guard scoffs at Adol. "Listen, son," (this guard is quite a bit older than Adol) "It isn't a question. And how dare you insinuate that we would do anything to these people!" The man hocks and spits at Adol's feet. "Untie them! This is your final chance!"
It seems Adol has made the guard angry. The other, younger guard appears just as offended if not quite as verbal.
(You notice a cold look come over Adol's features - he obviously is not pleased with this reaction.)
Uliaza just stays quiet and listens for the entirety of Adol's speeches, feeling slight exasperation at the man for sharing so many details at once. Completely destroyed any and all deniable plausibility they or the guards might have for this whole issue. Said exasperation turns into full blown frustration as he comments on the trustworthiness of the guard. Taking a few steps forward, she raises a hand and flicks him on the forehead. "Pally-Boy, there's going to be a new rule. You are NOT allowed to speak for the group."
Turning towards the prisoners, she draws her short blade and sets about cutting the bonds, shouting over her shoulder to the guard. "I am really sorry about this, the man's mouth runs faster than his brain. He means well, but he's a massive worry wort, and a fair bit of a pessimist. Anything that can go wrong does go wrong in his mind, even if that's never really the case. Try not to let it reflect badly on all of us, will you darlings?"
"Ahem." Maika said, coughing slightly.
"I think what Adol means to say is 'I have good reason to believe that some people in positions of authority in this town have abused that authority, and because I care about the fate of these people, I am particularly cautious on their behalf. I am, after all, a stranger in these lands, so I hope you will understand if I seek verification instead of taking everything solely on trust." She paused for a moment, then looked at Adol. "Was that about right?"
Adol nods, though doesn't take his eyes of the older man in front of him. "She speaks the truth," he nods sideways to Maika, answering the guard in front in equal tone. One lightning-quick cut later, the rope from one of the villagers falls off immediately - an extremely precise and well-measured cut for the amount of time it took to perform. He repeats the process more slowly for the other commoners. As he finishes, he relaxes slightly. "Forgive me, I have seen too many civilians abused in too many instances across all nations. I hope you will indeed prove that you are a better man than Eldran, ser, and that my initial impression of you was correct. My only concern is with the well-being of the townsfolk here, after all. With that, I bid you farewell."
Water and a warm meal would be nice; one moment please.[b] Rirsa looks at Carie and asks [b]La bonkora sinjorino estas la gastejestro nomata Doriana Irini; ĉu vi ŝatus ion dum ni atendas la aliajn? she waits for a response and tells Doriana what her cousin before turning back to Doriana My apologies; my cousin is unfamiliar with Taldaran.
As he passes his allies, Adol motions them to follow him. Once out of hearing distance from the guards, he speaks to whoever came along and is willing to listen. "There are a number of inconsistencies in what the guards told us that I don't understand. I'll explain my reasoning in detail later, when there is time. In short, considering the guard is completely oblivious to everything happening right in front of them and very laid-back about a twenty-ish fold murder by their advisor, to name one expample, added to that Eldran has proven to be very capable of breaking the minds of others, I'm afraid he might have used that on at least some of them.
If he has access to something like feeblemind, who is to say he hasn't used something like gayness to turn the local law enforcement into his slaves? It seems he could easily charm and bind them one by one to consolidate his power base. Of course, it could also be that some of the guards are simply corrupt and deliberately look the other way. Since Eldran's base was a bank, he probably had funds to spare. Still... is any of you capable and willing to see if any magic has been used on the guards, or following them to see what they are going to do?"
Adol probably means Geas instead. No offense was intended to anyone, I simply thought it was amusing for a character without spellcraft to get the names of spells wrong.
"Detecting magic is a simple matter." Maika noted. She focused for just a moment, and her vision abruptly changed as she began to concentrate on Detect Magic. "I'll be right back." With that, she moved back towards the guards.
Uliaza sighs and waves a hand at Maika. "I am literally always detecting magic, it's part of being a drow of noble birth. If any of them had been charmed magically in that crowd, I would have noticed."
The guards are not affected by any sort of magic.
Adol nods gratefully. "I see. Some things still don't make sense to me. Identifying these creatures as undead should have been simple. If the guards couldn't do it, the remaining priests we met at the town square surely could. So... that means there was no contact between them on something essentially taking the entire town hostage...?"
He trails off, then shakes his head. "Well, be that as it may. Let us hope the other guards have not been addled either. We should talk to the mayor, now that we know where he is. And since I'm forbidden to speak, I'm sure you can all question him well enough in my place. Lead the way, lady Ulliaza."
He stands ready to go, waiting on what the rest of the group decides to do.
"The guards did not detect as magic. There are ways to conceal the effects of magic, but Eldran hasn't shown any indication of attempting to conceal his magic before. But cunning enchanters can know to hide their magic. That said, it seems far more likely that most of these citizens wouldn't recognize an intelligent undead. Most of the weaker undead they could place are animated decay, these creatures are... off, but are a rare type of dead. The head cleric of the bank, and perhaps the head Sarenite are the only ones who might stand a real chance of identifying these undead." Alithea offered her thoughts on enchantment and the undead.
"As for our plans", she continuted, "I think unless we suspect of some nefarious dealings within the brothel, we will likely get more out of the mayor if we don't interrupt his time. If that is a concern, perhaps Ulliaza can confirm. We don't know if the mayor is in league with Eldran because of malice, gullibility, or enchantment. Best not to unnecessarily antagonize him until we know."
"It's amazing what people can not see when they don't believe it exists." Maika observed. "Less of a problem back home - Radia Storms are weird and dangerous enough that people learn to pay attention."
Uliaza tilts her head and thinks for a moment, her eyes going wide before she winces. "Yeah, probably best if we just let him have his time and then meet him later... I told the owner of the Blind Eye my suspicions about the count turning people into undead, and she kind of told me I better go. I'm not sure how she's react if I walked back in there asking to talk to the Counter. I'm pretty sure I jumped to an assumption there."
"What is a radia storm, lady Maika?" Adol asks.
After hearing Ulliaza and Alithea speak, he adds: "The guards said he was hiding there. I'm not sure he is there for... 'pleasure'. If he is actually hiding, chances are he might not come out for a while, and Eldran is still out there somewhere. I'd recommend going before something like the church happens again. And if we don't go, what is the alternative? Talking to the remaining priests we saw earlier?"
"If it makes you feel better, I'll sneak in to the Blind Eye and check out what he's doing, and what's going on. If it turns out that he's actually hiding there, we can figure out what to do then."
”Sounds a plan.”
"All right. So while Ulliaza visits the blind eye to look for the mayor, the rest of us goes to talk with the head Sarenrite and the other priest in their temples?"
"She'll be quick enough about it. In case we need to extract him, best we stay nearby. The priests themselves are not terribly strong, whereas we know the mayor is important. We can figure out how to kill time if the mayor is not up to anything nefarious."
The group heads over near The Blind Eye as they plan.
"All right. Best of luck then, lady Ulliaza, though I doubt you will need any. You've already shown how proficient you are at disappearing. I guess the rest of us will stay nearby in case something goes wrong. Anyone feeling the need to help her in ways magical? There's not much I can do to aid her. My shield other spell on her is still active, but will break if she goes too far away."
She throws everyone a short salute and slips out of sight with a small grin. Watching the entrance to the Blind Eye for a moment, she slips inside and begins to search around for where the mayor might be, careful not to bump into anyone and alert them to her presence.
Uliaza slips into the brothel, past the madam at the door, into the main area. Checking around the rooms, Uliaza peeks in on several townspeople trying to bury their fear in skirts before she finds the Count in the brothel's nicest, highest room. He is with a beautiful young brown-skinned Varisian woman.
The Count is lying face-down on a bed, mostly naked, while the woman gives him a back massage. Bruises mar her face, and she takes the opportunity to frown while the Count isn't looking at her.
A frown crosses her face and she thinks for a moment, slipping out of the room and finding an empty room. Quietly muttering under her breath, she casts Whispering Wind to deliver a message outside to the group. "Count is inside, going to keep an eye on him. Think he beats prostitutes."
With the spell and message sent, she slips back out to the Count's room to keep an eye on the man. The last thing she wants is someone severely injured if she could help it.
As Ulliaza went inside, Maika briefly began to describe some of the traits of her home. "Conjunction of etheral planar energy, basically. Very sensitive to stimuli and capable of near-infinite results. I've seen snow help people craft better items, acidic salt rains, self-igniting jelly, light that turns into weapons in everyone's hands, floating crystals, falling alcohol, liquid paranoia... it's very weird stuff. You never really know what's going to happen, so unless you're particularly dumb, you'll pay attention to the world around you. Fortunately, buildings are usually safe - most everything is built with a material called truestone that helps resist storm effects."
Uliaza is just keeping watch to make sure the Count doesn't take anything too far and threaten the prostitute's life. She's fully intending to keep watch until she's sure the prostitute is safe, or the Count falls asleep.
Alithea, having worked with Ulliaza before trusts that if the Count does get too violent, she'll intervene. "I'd suggest we just wait this out here. It sounds like Ulliaza is getting antsy, if she makes a move, we'll want to make sure at least some of us are close. Though it would still be best to not abduct the Count if we can avoid it, hopefully we can just wait this out."
After a couple of hours, the Count appears to get satisfied with his service and dozes off to sleep. After he falls asleep, the Varisian woman lights some incense and slips quietly out of the room, leaving the Count sweating and sleeping alone.
Somewhere during the awkward hours-long wait of listening to overly loud and unrealistically enthousiastic 'performances' and watching similar entertainers inviting passers-by in through the windows, Adol suggested moving slightly further away to be out of direct sight and hearing range. He figured Ulliaza could take care of it if something happened, and if not that either his reached-spell or Ulliaza herself would find a way to let them know, like she'd already done. He suggested again that perhaps someone should take this time to talk to the clerics, but preferred staying nearby himself in case things did go south here. On Alithea's advice, he didn't otherwise react to the news of the mayor likely being an abusive person, which he did say deepened his distrust in the local authorities, given everything that had happened here so far. It was getting harder and harder to believe the civilians were in good hands, which was something he very rarely thought or felt.
He then takes out his chronicle and procedes to note down everything Maika told him, as well as some brief notes on everything he had witnessed here today. "Fascinating. Those storms sound like something else, a miracle of the planes. I wish I'd had more time to study your home. What was it called... Hyraeatan, or something similar? Have you always lived there?"
He pauses in the middle of taking notes. "That reminds me, you told me a number of times that to fully use your services, we have to open an account, Lady Maika. Since we are waiting on Ulliaza, or rather *cough* the count *cough* to finish anyway, I suppose we might as well do that now. What goes into opening an account and how exactly do we make use of it?"
Uliaza shudders slightly at having to watch all of... that, but nods to herself. Slipping out of the room, follows the Varisian woman a bit to make sure she's alright, before slipping back outside to find the group.
"At the center of the storm without end, shall rise a city of ashes. I cannot say I have heard of this...Hyraeatan, but it does sound quite interesting."
The Varisian woman retires to a breakroom to rest for some time. She is fine for a moment, freeing Uliaza to exit the brothel and approach the group again.
- - - -
In the Day's End inn, the innkeeper brings Rirsa a pair of chairs and a small corner of a table. A pair of warm bowls of pottage and some bread follow. "Enjoy," she says.
Thank you; Rirsa takes a quick glance around- noticing all the people. I have a question- I noticed an inn outside the town- Does it have an owner? I'll stay if I must- but we suffer reprisal; a lot of people are going to pay in our stead.
Uliaza, feeling satisfied with the woman's condition, slips outside and back to the group. Letting herself slip back into sight, she glances at everyone. "You uh... You didn't have to wait around for me, you know?"